We have additional staff who have been specially trained to deal with trying to prevent people from taking their lives

A spokesman for Stagecoach

The South West Trains guard suffered leg injuries in the incident after the death of Shanthan ­Sritharan at Surbiton ­station in Surrey.

The staff member is one of nearly 2,000 frontline railway industry staff who have been specially trained to identify and approach potentially suicidal ­victims.

It is not clear if he had been ­trying to talk the 27-year-old, from Walthamstow, north-east ­London, out of taking his life.

Mr Sritharan was hit by the Portsmouth Harbour to ­London Waterloo train.

A spokesman for Stagecoach, which owns South West Trains, said: “We have additional staff who have been specially trained to deal with trying to prevent people from taking their lives.

“We have also developed a fatality management strategy in partnership with the Samaritans, which focuses on high-priority locations across our rail network.”

The firm has installed “rapid deployment CCTV” in a bid to halt rail suicides, as well as painting warning hatch lines across the platform edges.

Last year the number of ­suicides on Britain’s rail network rose by 13.5% to 236 deaths, up from 204.

An awareness campaign ­was launched by the Samaritans and ­Network Rail last month.

Posters ­targeting men aged 30 to 55, who are a high-risk category, were placed in stations and other sites in a bid to build on the original “Men on the Ropes” campaign, launched in 2010.

Neil Henry, of Network Rail, said: “We have learned a lot from the Samaritans. Through training, they have been able to help railway staff recognise the signs of a vulnerable, ­suicidal person and how best to engage with them.

“As a result, many have been involved in a number of ­interventions, thankfully ­preventing someone from ­taking their own life.”